A View from the Top: A diverse view of women in public works Wendy Springborn, MBA Engineering Services Manager City of Tempe, Arizona Chair, APWA Diversity Committee ere we come, Anaheim! The APWA 2012 International Public Works Congress & Exposition is just right around the corner and the Diversity Committee has been busy prepping for the many educational sessions we provide during the conference. This year, the committee decided to shake it up a little. For the past seven years, we have presented outstanding women in varied fields and responsibilities within public works in a program entitled “A View from the Top – Women in Public Works.” The program has always been well received and I believe we leave people wanting to know even more about the opportunities and struggles experienced by our panel. Two highly qualified women have been identified to participate on this year’s panel—Linda Petelka, Manager, Wastewater Program Planning for Peel, Ontario/Director, Region V and Erin Jones, Planning Director for Rowlett, Texas/Emerging Leaders Academy. Always wanting to find ways to increase our focus on diversity while broadening our need to continually improve our emphasis on inclusion, the committee decided to invite a gentleman to participate on the panel. We wanted to hear his perspective on embracing women in public works. How was he able to encourage and mentor women to succeed in what had been a predominantly male environment? This session is scheduled for Tuesday, August 28, at 2:00 p.m. I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight 10 APWA Reporter
June 2012
a few of this year’s panelists and give you a little sample of what you will experience by attending this educational session. First up: Linda Petelka, B.Sc., PWLF. As Manager of Wastewater Program Planning for the Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario, Linda and Linda Petelka her staff are responsible for programs and services such as the Inflow and Infiltration Program, Flow Monitoring Program, Standards Development, Hydraulic Modeling, Local Improvements, State of Good Repair, Master Planning and Servicing Feasibility Studies and leads the Division’s continuous improvement and business strategy initiatives. Prior to her current position, she worked for the Regional Municipality of Halton, Ontario, for 23 years, where she played an influential role in guiding the Region through a period of unprecedented industry-wide change. Linda played a critical role in transforming the Canadian National Water and Wastewater Benchmarking Initiative partnership into the Canadian standard for water and wastewater best practice development. She recently participated in the Abu Dhabi Benchmarking and Performance Improvement Initiative.
Linda served as a member of the CPWA Board of Directors from 2009-2011. She has been a member of the Ontario Chapter’s Board of Directors since 2000, serving as Chapter President in 2008. She is a past chair of the Chapter’s Membership Committee and Hospitality Committee and currently serves on the Special Functions Committee. Petelka organized the chapter’s response to the St. Bernard Parish volunteer effort for the New Orleans Congress (2008) in support of APWA’s initiative. She was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year in 2009 and was the recipient of APWA’s Community Involvement Award in 2010, and now serves as Director for Region V. As a wife, mother and business partner in her husband’s business, balancing work/life is a constant requirement and a juggling act that requires excellent multi-tasking skills, great facilitation, conflict resolution and priority-setting capabilities. Larry Frevert, P.E., PWLF, was one of the first men that came to mind when we discussed adding a male to the panel. I have not known him long; however, Larry Frevert I have come to know him as an individual who reaches out to help others navigate their way through their professional
